Moldovan energy minister says enhancement of buildings' energy efficiency up to EU's average level would save all quantity of gas annually imported in Moldova

Chisinau, 20 November /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova might save a quantity of energy equal to the whole volume of natural gas imported during one year, if it brought the country’s buildings to the average level of energy efficiency from the European Union.  Energy Minister Victor Parlicov today made statements to this effect, during his participation in a panel dedicated to the climate crisis and ecological transition at the Moldova Security Forum.    

Victor Parlicov said that Moldova was one of the most vulnerable countries on the continent to the climate changes; is the least afforested; over 70 per cent of all energy is imported, while it is among the poorest countries in Europe and is close to the war. According to the minister, the energy intensity is almost fourfold higher than the average level in EU, i.e. four-fold more energy is consumed, in order to produce one euro of the Gross Domestic Product.

At the same time, twice more energy is spent against the average of the European Union for the maintenance of one metre of dwelling space and a half of the energy is consumed by buildings, statistics data shows.   

The Energy Ministry launched more programmes for the enhancement of the energy efficiency both in the public sector and in the residential one.

Thus, Moldova assumed the goal to annually energy optimize 0.8 per cent of the area of the buildings from Moldova. To this end, the Fund for Energy Efficiency in the Residential Sector of Moldova (FEERM) was launched, which provides grants for the improvement of the energy efficiency in blocks of flat and private houses, with over half a million square metres of dwelling space due to be rehabilitated in the next three years.  

At the same time, decision-makers carry out two major programmes on the change of the systems of distribution of thermal agent inside the blocks of flats from Chisinau and Balti and on setting of Individual Thermal Points, which will enhance the thermal comfort from apartments, saving, at the same time, up to 50 per cent of the invoices’ cost.    

More programmes on modernization are also carried out in the public sector, among which the Moldova Energy Efficiency Project (MEEP), focused on the energy modernization and optimization of the consumption of energy in ten medical institutions of national importance, the Sustainable Transition and Energy Efficiency Moldova Project (STEEM), which implies the energy renovation of 46 schools from all over Moldova, as well as the Initiative for Development of the Sustainable Public Infrastructure through Renovations of Energy Efficiency (INSPIREE), which provides for the renovation of 25 public buildings for the improvement of the energy efficiency.